Ibiza restaurants: Café Montesol

In Ibiza, there are few venues that command as much kudos among locals as Grand Café Montesol. Adjoining the famous Gran Hotel Montesol (the island’s archetypal hotel, opened in 1933) it’s been a temple for free-spirited thinkers and iconoclastic characters ever since, many whom descend to discuss and observe while supping on coffee or cocktails.

The café, presiding proudly over the plaza of Ibiza town’s buzzing Vara de Rey, was recently refurbished at the hands of famed Spanish designer Lázaro Rosa Violán, who remained true to the classic Art Deco aesthetic of the space while simultaneously adding flourishes of modernist magic. Inside, the interiors are an ode to prohibition-era cool, while the outside terrace has nods to the nautical. Both draw diners in their droves.

The menu consists of myriad Spanish specialities, all made using the island’s finest local ingredients. Whether you stay for a healthy or an indulgent breakfast, a long lunch, decadent dinner, or just pop by for drinks you can always depend on superior quality. Many indulge in the provincial appeal of Café Montesol by simply stopping by for tapas and an aperitivo, or a coffee after work.

As popular today as it has been for the past 80 years, Café Montesol is the place to be in both the dizzying heights of summer and the long, intimate days of winter – during the colder months the venue comes alive on Friday nights in particular, when locals gather to bid the week adieu, cocktail in hand.

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One of the winter’s most magical destinations is La Torre Ibiza, the beautiful boutique hostel, restaurant and sunset bar nestled on the rugged, unspoilt cliffside of Cap Negret on the island’s west coast.